Chapter 232 Learning The Incident

Two days after the incident on the Finland-Norway border, Alexander and Sevastian conducted an emergency meeting in his office.

"What the fuck just happened?" Alexander growled.

"Your Majesty, one of the generals in the Finnish Army committed treason by giving foreign adversaries the military vehicles that were with them during their live exercise. The reason we know that it was the general is that his body was not found on the scene. The weapons of the soldiers as well as the vehicles were nowhere to be seen."

Alexander ran a hand over his face, infuriated by the report. "This is what I'm concerned about. I knew this was going to inevitably happen. What's the name of the general?"

Sevastian looked at the file in his hand and read. "His name is Major General Ralf Hietala of the Finnish Army. According to this report, his army just received the newly-acquisition military vehicles they bought from us. To think that they'll immediately give it to our foreign adversary is…" he trailed off, unable to continue due to him being infuriated as well.

"It's just been two days, right? Then we have time. Sevastian, I want you to set me a meeting with the Finland, Norway, and Sweden ambassadors in the Winter Palace right now. They won't be able to transport those military vehicles out of the country that easily. We have to stop them at all costs."

"Yes, Your Majesty, also. There's a development report from the Foreign Intelligence Services. It is related to this topic, they state that the Yamato Empire got ahold of one of our rifles from the special forces who died in Tokyo and tried to reverse engineer it but it was never completed due to the war situation and so they gave it to the United States. This is the full report."

Alexander grabbed the file from Sevastian's hand and perused the documents.

"Hmm, they are already making action huh? Transmit my orders to the Director of the Foreign Intelligence Services. Tell him that I want any efforts of any country to reverse-engineer our military tech to be stopped at all costs. Our national security is at stake here."

"I'll let them know to make it a priority, Your Majesty" Sevastian acknowledged his orders.

"Then, you may go and carry out your orders," Alexanderdismissed him.

"Yes, Your Majesty," Sevastian responded and headed for the door.

As Sevastian closed the door behind him, Alexander slumped on his chair and sighed deeply. He knew this would happen despite his placing strict measures to prevent it. Industrial espionage is a thing and almost every country in this world is doing that. But the question is who? It can't be Norway because their national focus is not centered on the military, the same goes for Sweden. Could it be the Britannian Empire? It is possible considering they are being cautious with them. It could also be the Deutschland Empire.

If that were the case then it'll be easy to track them down. Just as he thought before, transporting those military vehicles out of the country and to be cut off piece by piece for analysis would be a challenge.

If it's the Britannian Empire then their only way out is the Port in Oslo. If it's the Deutschland Empire then the only way out would be Stockholm. But if they are smart, they are not going to get the cargo out of Stockholm because they know that the Ruthenian Baltic Fleet is operating there. He can simply give orders to the Baltic Fleet to search merchant ships that are carrying suspicious cargo.

It will be a good move for him but the problem is, the Deutschland Empire also operates a fleet in the Baltic Sea. If the Deutschland Empire were part of the incident then they can use their fleet to escort the merchant ships out of Sweden and into the safe harbor of Kiel. But would the Deutschland Empire afford to confront the Ruthenian Baltic Fleet just to cover a suspicious cargo?

No, so their only way out is the port city of Oslo.

In order to track those stolen military vehicles, Alexander would have to speak with the ambassadors of Norway, Sweden, and the Grand Duchy of Finland and ask for their cooperation.

One hour later.

Sevastian entered his office and closed the door behind him. "Sir, the ambassador of the Grand Duchy of Finland has arrived and is ready to meet you."

"What about the other two?" Alexander asked.

"They are on their way here, Your Majesty."

"Okay, let him in," Alexander ordered.

"Yes, Your Majesty," Sevastian bowed and opened the door, and peek. He signaled the ambassador to come forward and enter Alexander's office.

The ambassador of the Grand Duchy of Finland entered Alexander's office.

"Good morning, Your Majesty. I came here as soon as I got a call from the Winter Palace," he said politely as he bowed.

"It's fine, Konstantin, please sit," Alexander smiled pleasingly as he said that.

Konstantin took a seat opposite Alexander and sat straight, hands folded on his lap. His gaze was focused on Alexander.

After a few moments of silence, Alexander spoke, "First of all, thank you so much for agreeing to this meeting on such short notice."

Konstantin smiled slightly. "Of course, Your Majesty, anything for you."

"It's been four years right, Konstantin? Since our last meeting about your proposal of making Finland an independent state?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. It has been four years."

"And do the constituents of the Grand Duchy of Finland still wish for independence?"

"Some of them do, Your Majesty."

"Well, unfortunately, this is not the room for that discussion. I'm here because of the incident that happened inside the Duchy. Konstantin, are you aware that one of your military generals handed a sophisticated military technology to someone that could pose a threat to the sovereignty of the Ruthenia Empire?"

"I am aware of that, Your Majesty. That's why I came here to tell you that the Finnish government had nothing to do with it. Major General Ralf acted on his own."

"Yeah I know and to prevent this from ever happening again I decided to conduct an internal investigation in your army. I want to be certain that Ralf is the only one doing it. And for safety measures, I will sign a decree of an arms embargo to the Grand Duchy of Finland until the investigation is complete. I hope that you will understand this and cooperate with me, Konstantin."

"I understand, sir, and I promise that the Grand Duchy of Finland will cooperate with the investigation," Konstantin nodded.

"I think that's all. Thank you for your time, Konstantin," Alexander dismissed him with a slight incline of his head.

"It was a brief meeting, Your Majesty." Konstantin commented.

"Well, there's nothing more to discuss, right? You agreed with us of conducting an investigation which makes it easy for me."

"You are right, Your Majesty. Then, I shall take my leave and inform the Diet," Konstantin bowed before leaving his office.

Moments later, Alexander muttered. "Two to go."